Tome of the Kings
by prettieburd
Summary: After the fall of the Crown City, Ardyn spends a great deal of time trying to get into the Library of Kings, deep in the heart of the Citadel. Finding his path blocked, he seeks out the one person he can think of that might be able to get him inside. One problem. Ignis Scientia is less than helpful, and will take a large amount of convincing. Not that Ardyn has a problem with that.
1. Chapter 1

…1…

The sound of a sharp, irritated sight was the only sound to be heard in the deserted hallway. For the beating the Citadel had taken, there was very little damage to this wing. To be honest, if one hadn't been aware of it, they might not have been convinced of the attack at all.

Another sigh and the shuffle of footsteps, a throat clearing.

Ardyn Izunia cast a long suffering and amused glance over his shoulder at the young white haired man standing by the opposite wall. The glance was quick, framed with a smile, but edged sharp and deadly. The white haired man looked away.

"High Commander, you are not required to babysit me." Ardyn's voice was jovial as ever. "Why don't you go find something better suited to your… skill set to pass your time with."

"Chancellor, the Emperor ordered me…"

"Dear Ravus," Ardyn interrupted. "I was not asking for an excuse. I was telling you to leave."

Ravus's jaw clenched, his still human hand clenching into a fist, but he turned sharply on his heel and left, his white robes barely a whisper in the air. As soon as the large wooden doors and the end of the corridor were closed, Ardyn turned his attention back to the problem at hand.

Propping his hands on his hips, he tapped his fingers on his belt. He'd shed a number of layers when he'd reached this hall, his items folded and stacked on a small table to the side. He was in a simple white dress shirt over his pin striped pants. Without all of his layers and the oversized jacket, Ardyn was actually a lot smaller than he seemed. Tall, he was quite toned, athletic even. People tended to underestimate him because no one could really get a good read on his physique. As he liked it.

Amber eyes stared up at the greatest obstacle he'd come against in years.

And it was a gods damned door.

Marble and machinery and magic. A carved and chiseled work of art. Massive. Impassible. Except to those who knew how. And therein lay the crux.

Of course, Regis would know how to get in, but alas, he was no more. And Clarus, but… no. Alas, both had perished in the fall of Insomnia.

Next, the dear sweet young prince Noctis, but, again, a resounding no. He was too young to be told the clues to opening the door. Too young and there had been no time before the boy had been sent away for him to learn.

Ardyn smiled, his eyes hard on the door. "I know your secret. I know where I have to look. I know which young mind I need to pick and prod."

With a short laugh, gleeful and echoing, Ardyn gathered his pile of clothing, tucked it under his arm and followed the corridors back to the outer levels of the Citadel. He redressed as he went, and he was putting his hat back one as he stepped out into the sunlight.

Smoke still billowed out of some of the neighborhoods surrounding the Citadel. Magitek armor and soldiers patrolled the streets, ships crisscrossed the skies. Looking up, Ardyn closed his eyes, soaking up the sun's glow. The smile was still on his face as he went down the massive stone stairs to the circular drive. Magitek soldiers came to attention as he passed, but he ignored them. They were nothing to him. He had his objective; he knew where he had to go. Who he had to see. The trick would be to find them out there in the wide wild world. But, Ardyn had nothing but time.

Nothing. But. Time.


	2. Chapter 2

…2…

Ardyn saw Ravus again a few days later, and the sight greatly amused him. The High Commander was delightfully disheveled, just coming away from a rambunctious fight with a group of Crown City heroes. Or, people who thought themselves heroes. There were pockets of resistance cropping up sporadically all over Insomnia, but it was nothing that the Imperial army couldn't manage easily enough.  
The High Commander had a dour look on his face that might have been menacing were it not for the mild scorching on his right cheek and the layer of ash in his hair. His white uniform was not as pristine as usual, and Ardyn smiled widely in greeting.  
"High Commander, I would have thought that you and yours might have had this quite wrapped up by now. These uprisings are getting quite tiresome."  
Ravus's human hand twitched and his eyes flashed.  
"Insomnia is not a small city, Chancellor," the Commander intoned, his accent thicker in his frustration. "The citizenry know it better than we, so they would know where to hide. It is simply taking more time than expected to pry them all from their holes."  
Ardyn continued to smile, but his eyes hard an edge to them again.  
"Sometimes I wonder, _High_ _Commander_ , where the heart of you truly lies. Does that upset you, son of Tenebrae?"  
A muscle in Ravus's cheek twitched, but his voice was even.  
"I swore my allegiance to the Emperor, Chancellor. I gave my oath to serve the Empire, to give my life for it if I must."  
"But?" Ardyn's smile was inviting, the sun making his amused amber eyes dance.  
Ravus inwardly cursed himself and the Six that the man was so damned perceptive. His living hand twitched again.  
"There is no 'but,' Chancellor. There is only my vow and my honor."  
Ardyn, for his part, raised his hands, palms up, in a gesture of letting the matter go. Ravus wasn't fooled, and he knew the subject was far from dropped. He gave a curt nod and continued away.  
"I have heard," Ardyn said as soon as they were shoulder to shoulder, causing the young officer to stop again, "that your sister may have been seen near Cauthess. Now, what would your lovely wayward sister be doing in such a place?"  
"I'm sure I have no idea, Chancellor." Ravus kept his eyes forward, pinpointing a single spot far down the street they stood on. Ardyn could still see the deeply buried worry for his sister glowing in the brown left eye. Trying at sympathy, he laid his hand lightly on Ravus's magitek arm, feeling the power it held thrum and shift under his touch.  
"Of course you wouldn't, dear boy. The Oracle doesn't confide herself to just anyone, does she? Not even her own brother."  
Gritting his teeth, Ravus jerked his arm free, stepping sideways and twisting to face Ardyn, all in one fluid, graceful motion that the Chancellor did so envy. Youth was unfairly lost on those who had it these days.  
"Take care, Chancellor," the younger man breathed. "Mind your words in terms of my sister, our Oracle, our connection to the gods. She would confide to me her plans were she able, I am sure of it. But knowing the whole of the Imperial forces is behind her, I doubt my knowledge of her doings means a great deal. Whatever she is doing in Cauthess, I am certain she knows how to handle it."  
Ardyn remained unmoved through the speech, his eyes boring hard into the blue and brown eyes staring back. In the end, he lifted his hands again, in surrender this time, and gave a short bow of his head.  
"Of course, High Commander," he said, voice dripping with sweetness. "I am sure the Lady Lunafreya is perfectly safe."  
Jerking his head in his own rough nod, Ravus stormed away, his pace quick and sure. Ardyn laughed to himself, propping his hands on his hips. He'd been watching the young man very closely these last years. Ha had watched him grow, has watched his misguided hatred for the Lords of Lucis build and burn in his heart until it had sent him careening into the military forces of the true target of his ire. Not that Ravus could see that. No, the boy was too hell bent and set on who he blamed, and not even sweet Lunafreya had been able to change his mind.  
Turning on his own heel, he started in the opposite direction, heading for his car. Oh, he very well could have gotten there in a single tick, but he did very much like to see the Crown City this way; gutted, destroyed. Disgraced. It brought him a sort of pleasure he hadn't felt in a very, very long time. Almost like a pent up and withheld sexual release, if he chose to be crude.  
Ardyn didn't mind crude. In fact, he actually loved to be crude. He loved to stoke the flames, then leave them burning. It was part of what drove him, what pushed him forward all of these years. It made him... happy.  
On the avenue leading up to the grand circular drive that lay at the foot of the steps of the Citadel, a fence of Kingsglaive and Crownsguard armor and weapons had been erected. War battered and blood stained, Ardyn loved the message it sent, enjoyed what it stood for.  
Insomnia is no more.  
Long live the Empire.


End file.
